When outdoor conditions turn brutal, the difference between life and death can be the work of Catholic agencies and organizations serving an estimated 653,104 homeless Americans — a number that marked a record high in 2023, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported.

Since the start of their February 2022 full-scale invasion, Russian forces have killed close to 70 clergy and destroyed more than 630 places of worship in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs.

Calls have multiplied in Nigeria for the release of Sister Vincentia Maria Nwankwo and Sister Grace Mariette Okoli. Both religious were kidnapped Jan. 7 along Ufuma Road as they returned from their vocational associations’ meeting held in Ogboji, a town in Anambra state.

Pope Francis has named three U.S. experts — two women and an abbot — to be members of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, a position once reserved for cardinals and bishops.

The Italian bishops’ new program of priestly formation, approved by the Vatican, repeats a prohibition against admitting to the seminary men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies,” but also says that being gay does not automatically exclude a candidate.

“It’s quite an honor for her to be here with the likes of St. Oscar Romero,” Tom Stang said after a relic of his sister was placed on an altar in Rome alongside a relic of the martyred archbishop from El Salvador.

God has not abandoned the Romani people even if it often seemed that the society and even Catholic Church had, Pope Francis said.

When children are baptized, their parents and the church are giving them the greatest gift ever: the gift of faith, Pope Francis said before baptizing 21 infants in the Sistine Chapel.

“I am praying for all of you,” Pope Francis said, using his televised Sunday Angelus address to speak directly to the people impacted by the wildfires in Southern California.

After congressional lawmakers formally certified Jan. 6 President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, Trump is scheduled to return to the White House Jan. 20, four years after he left the Oval Office in the wake of a failed reelection bid.